phelps



(No Model.)

L. J. PHELPS.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR A TTORNE Y N. PETERS, Fhmo-Lilhngnphcr. Waahi nnnnnnnn C,

llnrrnn STATES PATENT m rrors,

LUOIUS J. PHELPS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAI LWAY-TELEG (RAPH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,880, dated September 13, 1887.

Application filed December 15, 1886. Serial No. 221,607., (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUOIUS J. PHELPS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Duplexing Rail wayTelegraphs, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to utilize an ordinary telegraph-line for the purpose of sending and receiving signals to and from a vehicle in motion or at rest without interfering with the simultaneous use of said telegraphline for its ordinary purposes.

My invention consists in the combination, with a telegraph-line, of a railway inductive signaling apparatus consisting of induction devices carried on a railway car or vehicle in proximity to the line and a suitable station provided with apparatus for placing induction impulses onto and receiving them from said line, and continuity preserving transmitters for the ordinary telegraph-stations on the telegraph-line, said continuitypreserving transmitters operating to preserve the circuit for the induction-signals.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram of an apparatus embodying my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are diagrams illustrating modifications.

Referring to Fig. 1, L indicates an ordinary telegraph-wire stretched along the line of a railway, and O a railway car or vehicle carrying apparatus-such, for instance, as that described in my Patent No. 3l2,506-in suitable inductive proximity to the line L, so that electric pulsations or vibrations on'the line will be taken up by the car, to be thereon read in a sounder or other suitable receiver.

A indicates a station, either way or terminal, provided with apparatus for signaling to and from a railway-vehicle. The apparatus at the station A comprises any suitable means for producing, by induction, electric impulses or vibrations upon the line L.

K indicates a Morse key at station A; L B, a battery or other generator of electricity 5 V,

an electromagnetic vibrator or other device.

for throwing the battery-current into a series of pulsations or vibrations; T, a telephonereceiver or other form of instrument adapted to receive the rapidly-recurring vibrations produced on the line by induction from the railway-car, and I an induction-coil, one coil of which is in the local circuit controlled by the key K, whilethe other is in the line-circuit L, so that currents on the local circuit at A will'induce currents on L, and vice'versa. The key K operates in well-known. manner to produce dots and dashes, each consisting of a series of vibrations or pulsations. The receiver T is connected into the local circuit through the back contact of the key.

Apparatus similar to that described may b used on the vehicle 0, the local circuit being carried through the wire parallel to the linewire L, or being placed between the car-roof and the ground, so as to receive and, transmit signals by static induction, after the manner described in my Patent No. 834,187, or being otherwise made a portion ofa circuit on which inductionimpulses are received from the line, or which may be active in setting up impulses on the line. 7

P indicates a receiving-instrument of the telegraph-line L, indicated here as an ordinary polarized receivinginstrument adapted to respond to reversals of current on the line-circuit L produced by a Morse key at a Morse telegraph-station of said line.

A construction of reversing-key suitable for the purpose isindicated,at the station at which the receiver P is placed,by the letter K The battery whose current is reversed on the line by the operation of the key is indicated at L B. The station at which the receiver P and key K are located may be obviously through a way or terminal station, and any number of said stations may be located on the telegraphcircuit of line L. The key K is suitably constructed to reverse the connections of the battery L B on the line-circuit without at any time breaking the continuity of the line. In the normal position of the keyleve'r it bears against a contact-lever, a, and holds the same out of contact with a stop connect-ed to line on one side of the station. The opposite end of the key is out of contact with the lever I), so that the latter may, by a suitable spring, be held in contact with a stop connected to the Q asso same side of the station with the stop on which levera bears. The levers a b are connected, respectively, to the opposite poles of the battery, while the key-lever is connected to the other side of the station. In the position of the parts shown the one pole of the battery is connected to the right of the station and the opposite pole to the left; but when the key is depressed the lever acomes against its contactstop, thus connecting that pole of the battery which was previously connected to the right of the station with the line to the left, while at the same time the lever 12, being operated by the key-lever, leaves its stop and, being now in connection with the key -lever, connects the opposite pole of the battery to the right of the station. The parts are suitably adjusted with relation to one another, so that lever 12 shall not break contact with its stop before lever a is allowed to make contact.

Other constructions of pole-changing keys adapted to preserve the continuity of the circuit are well known in the art, and may be used in place of the pole-changer described.

A condenser, M, placed in a branch around the apparatus at the telegra 'ih-station, serves to prevent shock in the telephone-receivers from the changes of electrical condition which the Morse telegraph-key K produces on the line-Wire.

As will be seen, the induction signals produced on the 1ine,either at the car 0 or at the station A,will at all times find circuit through the Morse telegraph apparatus, inasmuch as the transmitter for said apparatus never breaks the circuit in passing from its front to its back contact,or vice versa.

I do not desire to limit myself to the employment of the induction-coil for placing the vibration signals from station A on the line by induction and for receiving signals from the line by induction, as other means may be employed for the same purpose.

In Fig. 1 the Morse telegraph apparatus of the telegraph-line M sends and receives signals by reversals of current on the line-circuit.

7 Fig. 2 representsa modification in which the signals are sent by changes of tension. In this case ordinary Morse keys, K are provided with back and front contacts made as spring or following contacts, so that the circuit shall not be broken at the back contact before it is made at the front, or vice versa. The construction is'indicated herein clearly by springs placed under the rear and front of the key-lever. When the key is depressed, a battery, L B, is thrown into the circuit, thus increasing the tension of the current on the line; but in the operation the continuity of the line is preserved through the contacts of the key and no interruption is caused in the reception and transmission of signals to the vehicle.

A battery, M B", charges the line-circuit L for the Morse telegraph.

It is quite plain that the changes of tension might be produced by the employment of an artificial resistance which shall be thrown into and out of the circuit by the operation of the Morse key, as indicated in Fig. 3.

The transmitter being properly organized to preserve the circuit in the operation of cutting the resistance in and out, it is apparent that no interruption of the railway-telegraph signals will occur.

Other forms of continuity-preserving key or transmitter might be used for the telegraph apparatus of the line L.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In railway inductive signaling apparatus, the combination, with a telegraph-wire, L, of a railway-vehicle having apparatus for transmitting and receiving signals from said line by induction, a station for transmitting and receiving signals from the vehicle, and continuity-preserving telegraph-transmitters at the telegraph-stations of the line L, as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with a telegraph-line, ofarailway-vehiclehavingapparatus for transmitting and receiving signals by induction from said line, a station provided with apparatusfor transmitting and receiving signals from the vehicle and inductively united with the line, and telegraph-stations on the lineeircuit having continnity-preserving Morse keys included in the circuit of the line, as and for the purpose described.

8. The combination, with the Morse telegraph-line L, of a railway-vehicle provided with apparatus for receiving and transmitting signals by induction over said line, a station, A, provided with apparatus for transmitting and receiving signals over the line by induction to and from the same, and a Morse tele graph apparatus on the line-circuit L, having continuity-preserving Morse keys, as and for the purpose described.

4. The combination, with the line L and station, A, inductively connected to said line, of a battery, M 13 charging the line, and continuitypreserving transmitters included in the line circuit for changing the tension of the current of battery M B on said line, as and for the purpose described.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 18th day of November, A. D. 1886.

LUOIUS J. PHELPS.

Witnesses:

WM. H. OAPEL, H. D. HALL.

ICC 

